Hydroclimatic Contrasts Over Asian Monsoon Areas and Linkages to Tropical Pacific SSTs

Authors

Hai Xu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Jianghu Lan, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Enguo Sheng, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Bin Liu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Keke Yu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Yuanda Ye, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Zhengguo Shi, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Peng Cheng, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Xulong Wang, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Xinying Zhou, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Kevin M. Yeager, University of KentuckyFollow

Abstract

Knowledge of spatial and temporal hydroclimatic differences is critical in understanding climatic mechanisms. Here we show striking hydroclimatic contrasts between northern and southern parts of the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau (ETP), and those between East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) and Indian summer monsoon (ISM) areas during the past ~2,000 years. During the Medieval Period, and the last 100 to 200 years, the southern ETP (S-ETP) area was generally dry (on average), while the northern ETP (N-ETP) area was wet. During the Little Ice Age (LIA), hydroclimate over S-ETP areas was wet, while that over N-ETP area was dry (on average). Such hydroclimatic contrasts can be broadly extended to ISM and EASM areas. We contend that changes in sea surface temperatures (SSTs) of the tropical Pacific Ocean could have played important roles in producing these hydroclimatic contrasts, by forcing the north-south movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and intensification/slowdown of Walker circulation. The results of sensitivity experiments also support such a proposition.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-9-2016

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Scientific Reports, v. 6, article no. 33177, p. 1-9.

© The Author(s) 2016

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep33177

Funding Information 

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos 41473120 and 41672169) and the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2013CB955903).

Repository Citation

Xu, Hai; Lan, Jianghu; Sheng, Enguo; Liu, Bin; Yu, Keke; Ye, Yuanda; Shi, Zhengguo; Cheng, Peng; Wang, Xulong; Zhou, Xinying; and Yeager, Kevin M., "Hydroclimatic Contrasts Over Asian Monsoon Areas and Linkages to Tropical Pacific SSTs" (2016). Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications. 5.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/ees_facpub/5